It was early in the day. Darian was in his room, holding a golden spatial ring. Inside that ring were all the treasures that had belonged to the old clan. The Merit Points and the money had been left with Leander, but everything from the old sales building was now in there.
There were tons of items — weapons, pills, potions, and all kinds of artifacts. Nothing amazing, just simple but useful stuff the clan used to sell to its members at discounted prices.
Darian held the ring in his hand for a moment, then closed his fist.
The ring vanished, getting absorbed into the inventory within his soul.
He smiled slightly and walked out.
Darian, Lucy, Lucius, and the other three clan members rented a plane. They were headed to the Celestial Altar.
Rhea would stay with Leander to help him, while Darian still needed to figure out how to evolve his rune. Veyle’s partner — who she had now named Ametheos — would stay inside her body during the time at the altar, in a deep sleep.
His master Meru had explained that, in the other universe, soul-bound runes couldn’t be brought in. Over there, Veyle would already be someone’s summon — being both things at once wasn’t just confusing, it was technically impossible.
In Darian’s case, he was only being taken into that universe. Once there, he’d reconnect with his partner, since his status was the opposite of everyone else’s.
During the trip, the twins were super excited, but everyone talked with them along the way and gave them some advice. They had trained hard and received careful guidance — the difference between them and Darian at the time of his test was like night and day.
When they arrived, an instructor led the two new recruits inside for the intro. Just like when it was Darian’s turn, there were about a dozen newbies gathered for the test.
Darian and the others stayed outside the building. A few minutes later, hundreds of High Humans started arriving on the island, waiting for the moment to enter.
Everyone recognized Darian — he had become pretty well-known in the Empire.
But strangely, no one approached him. Gregor and the members of his clan showed up too — they were also part of the mission — and were the only ones to come closer, though they still looked kind of tense.
Unfortunately, Darian couldn’t tell them Rhea was still with them.
After all the recruits left, the thousands of people moved toward the altar. The gates would stay open all day, so High Humans would be coming and going nonstop.
The entry process was simple: all you had to do was get close to the cluster of light, and then your mind would go dark as your body got pulled inside.
Darian moved, feeling a wave of intense anxiety. He was extremely worried about Niara. He kept surprising himself with how often she crossed his mind... and it was happening more and more as time passed.
The two of them had a lot in common, and Meru had even said she was chosen to complete him. The time they spent together was short, but their bond had formed easily — and that said it all.
Now, he was going back.
At the start of the day, Celestia Academy was buzzing. It was a special day — many Spiritual Guardians were returning to their Summoners, and new Summoners were about to appear.
Basically, every month a big group would head home while another new batch arrived. But only once a year did all the planets from the Divine Protection Universe send new Spiritual Guardians.
In theory, it should’ve just been a slightly busier day than usual. But this time, something was different. That’s because hundreds of the most powerful Spiritual Guardians were all returning at once.
The reason was shocking: ten months ago, Celestia Academy had sent a message through those who were heading home. The message said something that had never happened before — a Risen Lord had been killed in an extremely bloody internal battle.
The info came from a powerful figure who had the blessing of memory reading. He had accessed the memories of some high-ranking Risen and discovered that several Risen Lords had been seriously wounded in that fight.
It all blew up when one of them was close to death, and the others joined forces to execute him. But something unknown happened. The execution suddenly turned into an all-out war.
In the end, the wounded Risen Lord died quickly.
But the rest kept fighting until two of them were nearly killed. Eventually, they all fled — badly injured.
Of course, it wasn’t just the Risen Lords who fought. They’d brought in their strongest troops — and about two-thirds of them were wiped out. In other words, the Risen who ruled over the universe had been seriously weakened — both their soldiers and their leaders.
It was a one-of-a-kind moment in history. Once the Spiritual Guardians found out, they held a massive meeting; now, they were all returning to this universe at once.
It had taken ten months because, in their universe, they needed to gather the biggest planets and plan the best offensive in a second grand meeting.
Rival planets joining forces? Of course there were tons of problems — and the biggest one, obviously, was about the rewards. Everything had to be perfectly split between them. Earth, on the other hand, being just an average planet, didn’t get invited by any empire to join in.
This was the time to start a fierce counterattack. At the same time, it was a valuable chance for the Spiritual Guardians to rack up Merit Points.
Without wasting time, a full high-level meeting was called at Celestia Academy.
In a massive hall, hundreds of Summoners and Spiritual Guardians listened to a full report on the current state of the universe.
"In the galaxy closest to us, the Divine Dragon Academy’s core is still intact. Not even a Risen Lord can destroy it — we confirmed that through the memories of some Risen," explained an Elder with a pair of red wings.
"If we manage to invade the planet and fully reactivate the academy’s core, the Divine Dragon’s sacred power will force all the Risen off that planet. A temporary barrier will also go up, blocking any new invasions. That way, we can use the link between academies to move straight there."
Everyone nodded, understanding. In that universe’s past, there were 101 academies — one in each galaxy. Among them, six stood out as the biggest and strongest, built around cores left behind by the Divine Dragon and Elfield.
Three of those academies had Divine Dragon cores, and the other three had Elfield cores. Besides offering all kinds of benefits and unique methods, these cores massively boosted the power of the Mannaz, allowing them to condense their bloodlines and develop powerful martial arts.
Creating a martial art wasn’t easy — let alone a high-level one. And now that the academies were gone, most high-level arts were lost, and no new ones could be made.
Back then, thanks to those cores, a Mannaz could reach enough power to fight side-by-side with a Spiritual Guardian, evolving alongside their partner. Sure, there was a limit, but Mannaz weren’t seen as some weak link that had to be protected at all costs.
Nowadays, though, all six main academies and their galaxies had fallen to the Risen. Celestia Academy, once seen as mediocre, and its galaxy, had become the last one standing.
"With how weak the enemy is right now, if we can retake that fortress, we can expand the area around the academy. Taking back that galaxy before the Risen Lords recover is possible. This is the biggest opportunity we’ve ever had," the Elder continued, clearly trying to hold back her excitement.
A Spiritual Guardian that looked like a huge white tiger spoke up:
"We can’t count on luck. We have to hit them perfectly — that’s why it took us months of planning. We’ll do it in three waves, and everyone’s already on board with the plan."
The academy members nodded silently. Then a Spiritual Guardian shaped like a small flaming phoenix added:
"A third of the strongest will go each month. In this first wave, we’ll hit the galaxy and push them back. In the second, we’ll go straight to the planet and set up a siege. The third wave will be the final strike — we’ll do it carefully, since there’s a good chance the wounded Risen Lords will show up to defend it."
The Mannaz understood the plan.
"We’ve got no time to waste. In three days, we launch. And we can’t screw this up. There are tons of weak Risen that’ll just drain us if we try to fight them. That’s why we’re calling back all Summoners and their partners from across the universe," the white tiger finished, voice cold and direct.
The red-winged Mannaz nodded:
"We already started making preparations for the attack a few days ago. Sadly, sacrifices will be necessary. To make sure our galaxy doesn’t get invaded during the mission, we’ve moved all Mannaz who aren’t Summoners to the defensive lines around the galaxy."
Everyone agreed. Since the strongest Risen were fewer in number and injured, they’d probably only send the weaker ones to keep pressure on this galaxy.
Could regular Mannaz handle even the weakest Risen? Probably not.
But across an entire galaxy, the number of Mannaz was huge. They all had divine bloodlines and could fight. If ten of them gave their lives, they might be able to take down one mid-tier Risen — among the weaker ones.
That way, the defensive lines could be held under control, at least for a while. The regular Mannaz would literally use their blood and lives to protect the place, while the Spiritual Guardians launched their counterattack.